SketchBook Pro Update: Introducing Radial Symmetry

We are pleased to announce the latest update for our desktop versions of Autodesk SketchBook. What’s in this update? A few major features: Radial Symmetry, Custom Brush Icons, and access to the System Color Editor on the Mac version.

Radial Symmetry

Pro members will see a new icon in the Symmetry menu. Radial Symmetry allows you to sketch and paint while mirroring your work in up to 16 sectors simultaneously. This is a powerful tool for sketching symmetrical patterned objects like flowers, wheels, propellers, or mandalas. The main image on this blog post (above) was quickly made using the Radial Symmetry tool. If you draw circular and symmetrical objects, this is going to save you a ton of time.

Custom Brush Icons

Making and sharing custom brushes and brush sets is incredibly handy. If you’re a Pro user and have already built up an extensive library of brushes, you may have found that you’ve been running out of unique brush icons to identify your brushes. We’ve added the ability for you to import images and label your brushes however you choose. The brush customization possibilities really are endless. We’ve been using this feature in the past few weeks (before it was live for everyone) to share Free Custom Brush Sets — and now you can, too. If you want to add a custom icon to represent a brush, in the Brush Properties menu click on the icon and look for the Import option (see image to the right). You can use the texture it creates to represent your brush, but we really love the professional look of a unique brush with custom icons for each brush.

System Color Editor (Mac)

You asked, we listened! Some of our users weren’t happy with every improvement we made in our last release. In particular, some people just couldn’t let go of the old color editor. We know it can be hard to make a change so we’ve added an option in Preferences that lets you revert back to the System Color Editor. This allows you to use the color picker in the same way you were used to all along. This is available for all users (not just Pro).

Radial Symmetry in Action

Our own Kyle Runciman created this video to show how he uses Radial Symmetry to design wheels and create custom brushes. It’s a brand-new feature, so it’s always instructive to see how someone else does it. We hope you find this new tool as neat and useful as we do.

A Free Brush Set Made Using Radial Symmetry

We posted these custom wheel brushes a few weeks ago as sort of a teaser of what’s possible with Radial Symmetry. If you haven’t already grabbed this set, click here to download. Getting these brushes into SketchBook couldn’t be any easier. Simply double click on the .skbrushes file and the brush set will be directly imported into your SketchBook Brush Library.

As always, we’re very excited to see what you come up with these tools. Have fun!